Prospect Info: Michael McNiven
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That would be a waste of a free asset. If he does go, I hope they sign 2 good UDFA to compensate.
Incredible. Way to develop a prospect...
'I just want to play': Michael McNiven on frustration, lack...
"Even following his call-up to the Rocket, McNiven was left to his own devices, working out in his girlfriend’s parents’ gym prior to getting an invite to practice in Laval on Monday.
“I texted (goaltending coach Marco Marciano) and said, ‘I’ve been home for four days now, without ice, can you get me ice?'” said McNiven. “He didn’t know where I went, he just knew I wasn’t in Laval.”
“Is there any way I can rent ice?” he asked.
The Rocket arranged to get him ice time, rent-free, prior to the start of practice, but once Marciano discussed the subject with Bouchard, McNiven was invited to practice with the rest of the team. Whether it was a communication breakdown, or an attempt to shield McNiven from the press, is unclear, but McNiven was left to work out in a garage for almost an entire week without hearing from the Rocket."
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That’d be dumb seeing as he’s been pretty good. I know Primeau is the golden ticket at the moment, but McNiven has been just as good.
Jesus, that is so sad. I hope for his sake we don't give him a QO so he can move on with another franchise. Habs obviously don't value him - which I just don't understand.
MarkovsKnee
Global Moderator
The organization's treatment of him has been bullshit.
Martin Leclerc on 91.9Sports said the Laval Rocket coaching staff was not notified of his call-up at the end of the month of December. Bouchard invited him on Monday (January 6) to join the team and practice with them after McNiven started asking around (no news from the Rocket for multiple days).
What the actual f***? From a professional organization? How is this acceptable?
What the actual f***? From a professional organization? How is this acceptable?
We should trade Kinkaid for whatever and have McNiven split games with Primeau
Wtf
Wtf
abo9
Registered User
- Jun 25, 2017
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Habs effectively killing another kid's career. I thought I would see less of that recently but wow how sad...
I understand they might prefer Primeau, but its unbelievably unprofessional to just dismiss McNiven because Primeau looks to have the better potential...
I understand they might prefer Primeau, but its unbelievably unprofessional to just dismiss McNiven because Primeau looks to have the better potential...
Tim Wallach
Registered User
Bingo. The Kinkaid experiment is over. He can do nothing for the organization going forward. If you're going to screw with anyone, do it with the asset you know can't help you.
McNiven must have angered someone in the Habs management. His play warrants way more.
Adam Michaels
Registered User
The last time they re-assigned McNiven to another ECHL team was in November when they removed him from Adirondack and sent him to Jacksonville. That took about two days to put together.
This time, I think they were planning for it to be about the same thing. But my guess is it took longer to find him a new team to assign him to, as evidenced by the fact it's been a week and half instead of a day or two.
And this is where it is embarassing for the organization. They forgot to take care of McNiven in the meantime. To make sure the kid has what he needs to train and stay in shape.
Furthermore, the goalie coach in Laval didn't know he was still there. And neither did Bouchard. They were under the impression that McNiven was already sent to another ECHL team. But good on Bouchard to tell McNiven to come train with the team as soon as he found out. Hopefully Bouchard will let upper management know how they dropped the ball here.
It's understandable that Montreal has bigger fish to fry, but you can't just ignore a player under contract.
And this goes back to Montreal needing their own ECHL affiliate. And where I cross my fingers that it will all work out in Trois-Rivières.
This time, I think they were planning for it to be about the same thing. But my guess is it took longer to find him a new team to assign him to, as evidenced by the fact it's been a week and half instead of a day or two.
And this is where it is embarassing for the organization. They forgot to take care of McNiven in the meantime. To make sure the kid has what he needs to train and stay in shape.
Furthermore, the goalie coach in Laval didn't know he was still there. And neither did Bouchard. They were under the impression that McNiven was already sent to another ECHL team. But good on Bouchard to tell McNiven to come train with the team as soon as he found out. Hopefully Bouchard will let upper management know how they dropped the ball here.
It's understandable that Montreal has bigger fish to fry, but you can't just ignore a player under contract.
And this goes back to Montreal needing their own ECHL affiliate. And where I cross my fingers that it will all work out in Trois-Rivières.
What a joke, starts at the top with Molson who should not be president of the team and works down from there with the GM, etc.
Kinkaid or Lindgren would have to be the guys traded......or maybe....dare I say it.....PRICE
Such a joke. Just makes the Kinkaid decision even worse, do not understand why you'd willingly create a huge logjam in net for the privilege of signing an .891 goalie for 1.75M.
I just assumed they would run Price - Lindgren in the NHL and Primeau - McNiven in the AHL, no idea why you'd go add a veteran backup if it wasn't someone actually good.
I just assumed they would run Price - Lindgren in the NHL and Primeau - McNiven in the AHL, no idea why you'd go add a veteran backup if it wasn't someone actually good.
CapSpace
Caufield is lit
Adam Michaels
Registered User
They can't do that. There is a buyout period in the summer. If you don't buy a player out during that window, you can't buy them out. And Kinkaid is a UFA at the end of the year.
So either they trade him or they terminated his contract. But for them to terminate it, the player needs to agree to it. Termination of a contract has to be agreed upon. Or else there would be contract terminations all over the league.
montreal
Go Habs Go
the reason they had to bring in a backup was because Lindgren got injured last year and when he came back he must have come back too soon as he was terrible and he said in the summer that he wasn't healthy or something to that effect. But they clearly thought they would be better then they are now, although if not for all the injuries to key forwards they very likely would be so it made sense that they couldn't just hand the backup job to Lindgren.
ahmedou
DOU
- Oct 7, 2017
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That's why our own ECHL team is needed...
I suspect Kincaid will go. There’s always teams looking for goaltending depth down the stretch.Always injuries.
I’m sure the Habs are trying.
I’m sure the Habs are trying.
montreal
Go Habs Go
the thing that I haven't understood is why they value Kinkaid over McNiven when you know Kinkaid is a UFA and there's no way he's coming back so clearly he has no future with us so why play him over McNiven who at least could have a future with us even if it's not very long it could be longer then Kinkaid's. He was lighting up the ECHL at one point leading the league in save %, why not just bring him to Laval as it's not like they haven't done the 3 goalie in Laval before, since they just did it 2 years ago with McNiven, Lindgren and Fucale. It was Fucale who got the short end of that stick, as they clearly knew they weren't bringing him back so they moved him up and down at times and loaned him to the spengler cup.
This time they could have Primeau/McNiven get all the starts and have Kinkaid mentor the 2 while collecting a nice pay check. I know he wouldn't want that most likely as I'm sure he wants to play but it would give them a chance to get more looks at McNiven and give them a vet to help work with them.
Gotta be so frustrating for this kid. A part of me hopes we don't offer him a QO this off season and he gets a shot with another franchise. It's sad the way he's been treated.
Fair enough if there were injury concerns, it's not that I think Lindgren is (or could have reasonably been predicted to be) a great backup or anything, but I don't think there was any reason to think of Kinkaid as appreciably better than a healthy Lindgren or a generic replacement-level goalie. I feel like you could have just gone into the year with Lindgren penciled in as the backup and grabbed any arbitrary replacement scrub if he doesn't work.
I guess what I'm saying is I just don't think there should have been any reason to think a 30 year old coming off an .891 was going to be a "premium" backup and solidify that role. If Kinkaid is the veteran you're bringing in you may as well just pencil in Lindgren as the backup to start the year and get a waiver guy if he isn't ready. If they went out and got a premium backup like McElhinney or somebody like that with recent success it would be one thing, but I don't think Kinkaid should have been expected to offer much insurance of being better than any arbitrary waiver guy or 5th rounder goalie trade target.
ahmedou
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